TIMELINE: William Daniel Richard HEDTKE (1917-1944)

written by cousin Linda Windmoeller, based upon her research

Born 03 Jan 1917: at home on farm in Harrison Township, Waupaca County, Wisconsin, USA, eldest of six siblings, parents: Walter Eric HEDTKE & Amelia/Emilie nee PAGEL
About Feb-Mar 1917: baptized at Northland Lutheran Church, Harrison, Waupaca, Wisconsin, USA located in NW¼ SE¼, Sec 31, T25N, R11E; baptismal record stolen winter 2010 with stolen church records & safe (per email from Northland Lutheran Church Secretary, 2 Dec 2011), stolen church records not recovered
Residence 1920: Harrison, Waupaca, Wisconsin, USA; William HEDTKE, son, age 3 & 0/12, single
Residence 1930: Harrison, Waupaca, Wisconsin, USA; William KEDKE [HEDKE], son, age 13, single, attended school
Residence 1940: Harrison, Waupaca, Wisconsin, USA; William HUEDTKE, no relation (living with William Zietlow family), age 23, single, completed grade 7, lived 1935 Waupaca Co. farm, works 80 hrs/wk 52 wks, Laborer-Lumber, own account, income 1939=$0
Residence between 1940-1941: Waupaca County, Wisconsin, USA: working & living on farm east of Clintonville, Waupaca County, Wisconsin, per his sister, Elsie
About Jan 1942: received military draft notice & went to Milwaukee by train for physical (with brother Alfred, who did not pass physical)
Military Service: About Mar 1942 – 18 Sep 1944
Mar 1942: Fort Sheridan, Lake, Illinois, USA; boot camp, U.S. Army, at Fort Sheridan prior to end of March 1942, per letter #1 dated 28-Apr-1942 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
Mar-Sep 1942: Camp Claiborne, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, USA; Service Number: 36239034
28 Apr 1942: Camp Claiborne, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, USA; at Camp Claiborne 1 month now, per letter #1 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
10 May 1942: Camp Claiborne, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, USA; per letter #2 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
30 May 1942: Camp Claiborne, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, USA; per letter #3 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
04 Jul 1942: Camp Claiborne, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, USA; per letter #4 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
15 Aug 1942: 82nd Infantry Division took wings as the 82nd Airborne - becoming the U.S. Army's first airborne division
23 Aug 1942: Camp Claiborne, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, USA; per letter #5 to cousin Angeline Hedtke – his unit now an Airborne Division!
19 Nov 1942: Fort Bragg Military Res., Hoke, North Carolina, USA; per letter #6 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
30 Nov 1942: Fort Bragg Military Res., Hoke, North Carolina, USA; per letter #7 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
10 Jan 1943: Camp Davis, Holly Ridge, Onslow, North Carolina, USA; per letter #8 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
Feb 1943: Laurinburg-Maxton Air Base, Scotland, North Carolina, USA; per letter #9 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
11 Mar 1943: Fort Bragg Military Res., Hoke, North Carolina, USA; per letter #9 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
18 Mar 1943: Laurinburg-Maxton Air Base, Scotland, North Carolina, USA; per letter #9 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
about May 1943: transport to England
May 1943: Grand Casablanca, Morocco (via ship from England to Morocco)
About 15 May 1943: Oujda, Morocco (via train from Casablanca to Oujda)
After 16 May 1943: Kairouan, Al Qayrawan, Tunisia (via truck from Morocco to Tunisia)
20 May 1943: Tunisia (for glider training); in Africa - letter #10 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
14 Sep 1943: Italy: Chiunzi Pass -- the 319th landed by ship near Maiori, Salerno, Campania, Italy and hauled their 105mm howitzers up the mountain roads in the early morning darkness.
12 Nov 1943: Maiori, Salerno, Campania, Italy; per letter #11 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
09 Dec 1943: Castledawson, Northern Ireland, Ireland (by Toomebridge)
20 Dec 1943: Castledawson, Northern Ireland, Ireland; undisclosed location per letter #12 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
01 Jan 1944: Castledawson, Northern Ireland, Ireland; in Northern Ireland now, per letter #13 to cousin Angeline Hedtke
14 Feb 1944: Braunstone Park, Braunstone Town, Leicester, Leicestershire, England
08 Mar 1944: A.P.O. postmark, NY, USA; per unsigned Easter Card to sister Elsie
Apr 1944: Leicester, Leicestershire, England; "from Bill" postcard; per #14 to cousin Angeline Hedtke - last known card/letter sent home
06 Jun 1944: glider elements were at seven airfields in the ALDERMASTON - RAMSBURY - MERRYFIELD area, 319th GFAB had 40 gliders that were part of "Force B"
06 Jun 1944: start of D-DAY in Normandie, France
07 Jun 1944: glider landings at Ste-Mere-Eglise, Manche, Basse-Normandie, France
23 Jun 1944: wounded in France
13 Jul 1944: Braunstone Park, Braunstone Town, Leicester, Leicestershire, England
17 Aug 1944: Award: 1st Purple Heart awarded for D-Day operations battle injury, in possession of sister Elsie’s family
Sep 1944: Cottesmore, Rutland, England
18 Sep 1944: Cottesmore, Rutland, England - gliders took off towed by C-47s from Cottesmore Airfield for Operation Market Garden: Pvt. William D. Hedtke, Harrison, Waupaca, WI, Service Number 36239034, 319th GFAB, Battery B, Serial A-6, glider #340522 Cottesmore Field, LZ “T” arriving 1428
18 Sep 1944: was Missing-In-Action: Zyfflich, Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (? glider overshot Landing Zone T at Groesbeek, Holland, and ended up behind enemy line, in glider with Pfc Clifford M. Mills? - assumed to be in same glider as Clifford Mills that crashed at Zyfflich, Germany)
19 Sep 1944: ? Did William Hedtke make his way south, on foot, across German border to 1.5 miles east-north-east of Groesbeek, Gelderland, Netherlands near the German border, where his unidentified body was later found in 1945 next to a glider at coordinates 776557, and initially buried at Groesbeek?
14 Oct 1944: Death Report Filed, Form 52-1, Report of Death: Killed-In-Action, glider flights
about Dec 1944: Award: 2nd Purple Heart awarded posthumously, died in war combat, Operation Market Garden, in possession of sister Ardel's family
17 Feb 1945: Letter to parents: son Killed-in-Action, result of internal injuries & lacerations of the head
Apr 1945: NOTE: body remains of co-glider Clifford Mills identified via dog tag by a Canadian troops Chaplain, but 2 days later lost in flood of Waal River, flowing to North Sea
Jun 1945: Canadian grave registration personnel recovered a set of American remains near Groesbeek, Netherlands that were initially interred at the Canadian military cemetery at Groesbeek. The remains had USA paratrooper boots and were of an individual with blonde hair, sideburns, and a mustache (Daniel Gulmer, "Check List for Unknowns," undated, X-1230 file)
29 Jun 1945: Burial Return, Unknown X-1230 Margraten file. Remains were given to the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC). After unsuccessful efforts by the AGRC to identify the remains, X-1230 Margraten were permanently interred as an Unknown soldier at the Netherlands American Cemetery at Margarten
27 Aug 1945: Missing In Action report filed
20 Jun 1947: Report filed, OQMG (Office of the Quarter Master General) Form 371: "M.I.A. near Nijamen, Holland result of internal injuries and lacerations of the head, incurred in combat glider landing.”
05 Apr 1948: Report filed, OQMG Form 1900: Controlled Case, "Do not…release information without concurrence of Identification Branch, Memorial Division"
15 Nov 1950: Board of Review: "Remains were reduced to a state or disposed of in a manner as to preclude recoverability or identification."
Jan 1951: GROP (Government Repatriations Operation) 293.9, reinvestigation case closed: "Although remains could have been recovered, evidence does not exist to contradict a finding of non-recoverability."
as of 7 Jul 1960: Honthem, Eijsden-Margraten, Limburg, Netherlands, American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), commemoration: name engraved on Wall of the Missing, Margraten - north side: “Here are recorded the names of Americans who give their lives in the service of their country and who sleep in unknown graves." (1,722 names MIA), U.S. Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands
After 1972: installation of bronze American Legion plaque at parents’ gravesite, Northland Lutheran Church Cemetery, Waupaca County, Wisconsin, USA located east side of state highway 49 in NW¼ SE¼, Sec 31, T25N, R11E
12 Jul 1973: A disastrous fire occurred at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri, USA destroying 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) including files of Army personnel discharged 1 Nov 1912 to 1 Jan 1960. William Hedtke's entire Official Military Personnel File was among those destroyed.
Sep 2016: The Department of Defense and American Battle Monuments Commission disinterred X-1230 for scientific analyses (nearly full skeleton) for possible association to an Operation Market Garden casualty.
Nov 2017, and 2018-2019: family members submit volunteer Y and mt DNA to the Department of Defense DNA Registry for DNA Profile to be added to the Family Reference Database for possible remains identification process.
17 Oct 2019: remains X-1230 identified as Pvt William D. Hedtke via dental, anthropological, and DNA analyses
25 Oct 2019: Identification was initially published. Final Report 25 Oct 2019, KIA remains found near a glider at coordinate "776577", 1.5 miles east of Groesbeek, Netherlands, near the German border)
25 Nov 2019: Department of POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) Release No. 19-208 Soldier Accounted For From World War II (Hedtke, W.) A rosette will be placed next to his name on the Walls of the Missing at Margraten American Cemetery, Netherlands, to indicate he has been accounted for.
Hedtke will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Date yet to be determined.

Pvt William Daniel Richard HEDTKE